BBC Middle East Correspondent Jim Muir: Mr Khatami does not intend to lie down and roll over

President Mohamad Khatami told the inaugural meeting of the new Tehran city council that the 20 million Iranians who had voted for him wanted change.

And in a clear reference to the hardline conservative faction in the Islamic Republic, he denounced "monopolistic forces which seek to model society according to their interpretation of religion and law."

He criticised "those who take advantage of the beliefs of the population, of Islam, of the clergy and of the supreme guide (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) to impose their point of view".

"I stand firmly by all the promises I made to the people," he said.

Attacks redoubled

The BBC's Middle East Correspondent, Jim Muir, says Mr Khatami was serving notice that he does not intend to give in to his opponents, who have redoubled their attacks on his reformist camp.

Women candidates did well in February's municipal elections

The council meeting went ahead despite an attempt by a conservative-dominated electoral supervisory board to disqualify five reformists, including the former interior minister, Abdallah Nouri.

Other leading reformists were elected to the posts of first and second vice presidents, secretary and treasurer. The other 10 members of the body are also Khatami supporters.

Mr Nouri was impeached by the conservative-dominated parliament last year and lost his job as interior minister.

Another of Mr Khatami's key allies, the Culture Minister, Ataollah Mohajarani, faces a similar ordeal before parliament on Saturday.

It has also been announced that another supporter of the president, the former mayor of Tehran, Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi, must begin serving a two-year prison sentence for corruption within seven days.

'Leading role'

President Khatami praised the role of councillors in his speech on Thursday. Reformists won sweeping victories in February's municipal council elections, Iran's first ever.

"The councils should play a leading role in establishing a civil society and allow the population to play a role in decisions affecting their destiny," he said.

He said councillors elected across Iran should be the intermediary between the authorities and the people".

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei had his personal representative read a message to the council session in which he "wished every success to the municipal councilors across the country".